meatless meals

[Ajohnson2334]

My dh is on a new health kick and this time he wants to not eat meat during weekdays. My dh does not like most veggies - has always been a 'meat and potato' kind of person, so for him to not want me to make what most of our meals consist of is a total challenge



Any meatless meal ideas? Even if there are veggies in them, I can usually take them out of his portion. I have some basics (cheese quesadillas, meatless spaghetti, red beans and rice, etc) but I am really stuck on things that I can make 5 nights out of the week with out repeating it over and over.

[brittonJ]

You can make you own. Here's a great yummy recipe:

http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2008/02/perfect-tempeh-burgers.html

Quoting legalize.it:

excelent recomendation, however, when you live in a town of 10,000, there are not many options, and unless you want to drive an hour and half or two hours for a few veggie burgers, you have to make the best with what you have, and it is still preferential to beef or pork or chicken that you buy at the same store. Wish we had a local grocer though, that would be sweet

Quoting brittonJ:

Morning star farms uses wood pulp as filler in some of their products. I would advise going to a local farmer's market grocer to find any frozen meat substitutes - the ones at the grocery store are often too commercialized and not super healthy for you.

Quoting legalize.it:

Morning star farms sells 'Meal Starters' in the freezer section as well as veggie burgers. They are made of TVP or textured vegetable protein, and as well as being very good for you, TVP is completely flavorless, so it takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with and has the texture and consistency of meat.  I always like chilli, made with tomatoes, beans, TVP, and onions and peppers, cuz its yummy and you can put it on lots of stuff as well as making dips out of it. 

[momov2qtees]

Great suggestions you've received----but this is one I haven't seen-----have hubby cook a few nights a week to get an idea of what he will come up with and then you can vary different things using "his" ingredients.

[Kris1885]

We made pizza using bagels tonight for dinner. Try www.allrecipes.com. I use this site weekly to come up with new and interesting ideas. I also make a turley meatloaf and I use a cuisinart to finely shred some carrots that I sneak into it. Teeheehee. The kids have no idea and it's really yummy!!

[allbad3308]

•  Italian Pasta Classics
  Rotini Pasta
  Balsamic Vinaigrette
  Olives
  Mushrooms
  Red Onion
  Can diced Italian tomatoes
  French Bread
  Garlic butter

This is a good, healthy meal and you can keep the ingredients on hand for a quick meal any time.  You can add ingredients as you should like however I find where young children are concerned three seen ingredients are best. 

Think tasty not vegetarian and your family will not notice whats missing.

Badartworld.com

[mspuscifer]

You should really check out the cook book Veganomicon. It's awesome! There's a really great recipe for Chickpea Cutlets in it that i make with mashed Cauiliflower/Potatoes and gravy.  It's as meaty as it gets. Here's a recipe from it that I tweaked (we're not vegans so I use butter and milk). I originally posted it in OFAMM. 

Cauliflower & Mushroom Potpie w/ Black Olive Crust

Sauce:

3 Tbsp Butter

4 Tbsp Flour

2 Cups Milk (Soy milk works)

1 Bay leaf

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp marjoram

1/4 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp salt

ground pepper

Vegetables:

1 pound cauliflower (washed and cut into bite-sized pieces)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 leeks (sliced thinly)

1/2 pound mushrooms (sliced)

1 tsp white wine vinegar (rice vinegar works, too)

Black Olive Crust:

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

pinch of thyme

3 Tbsp butter (chilled)

4-5 Tbsp cold water

1/3 cup pitted black olives (chopped coarsely... kalamata best, canned work)

Prepare Sauce:

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, over med heat melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Stir to form a thick paste. Cook until fragrant, bubbly and lightly browned (4-5min)

Temporarily turn off heat. Slowly whisk in milk until smooth. Whisk in herbs, mustard, & salt. Add bay leaf. Turn on to med and whisk constantly for 8-10 minutes until a thick sauce forms. Turn off heat, remove bay leaf and adjust salt & pepper to taste. Set aside. 

Veggies:

Heat oil in a dutch oven over med heat.  (I use one of those fancy stainless casseroles right on the stove top.... a wok or large frying pan might work). Add the leeks and carrots and saute 6-8 min until soft. Add the mushrooms and vinegar, stir, and cook for another 6-8 min. Add the cauliflower, stir briefly, cover partially and steam for about 8 min (may need to add water) until the cauliflower begins to soften. Remove lid, turn off heat and set aside. 

While the cauliflower is cooking, prepare the biscuit crust:

 You might as well preheat your oven to 375 now

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and thyme. With a pastry cutter or two knives held together, cut in the butter until crumbs form, then drizzle in 3 Tbsp of COLD water and mix. Drizzle in additional Tbsp of cold water, one at a time, until a soft dough forms (be careful not to overwork it!). Fold in the olives. 

Pat out the dough on a lightly floured surface rolling out to slightly larger than a 9x13 pan. Sometimes I use cookie cutters to make animal shaped pieces of crust and I collage them on top... yeah! I got a DUCK!!!

Assembly:

Give the sauce a good whisking (don't worry about the skin on top), pour into the cauliflower mixture and stir to blend the veggie juices and sauce. Pour the whole she-bang into a 9x13 glass pan (you could just rock it in the dutch oven, but I like the tidiness of the new pan). Throw the crust over top and pinch the edges around it (the original recipe has you cut out diamonds and not cover the whole thing, but I like my carbs, so as for crust, the more the merrier). Slice vent holes in the top in a pattern of your liking (I usually rock a monogram "F".... we're classy like that). Brush the top with milk (yeah, soy milk works) Put the pan on a cookie sheet JUST IN CASE... cleaning the oven's so lame. Bake @ 375 35-40 minutes until biscuits are nice and brown. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before serving... the inside will be like lava. (Disclaimer: not responsible for burns, injuries, etc.) Devour.

[BannerElkHogans]

my husband tried that crap an I made him the 1 meatless in seattle meal-an the next day he had changed his mind an wanted his meat

Farrotto w/Butternut,Gruyere Cheese and Hazelnut's- I got it out of a Cooking Light magazine-ha ha ha ha

[nichypeachey]

Hi there,

I have not hit the meatles stage in my houshold howev er my mother has. One thing I tend to do when I am aout of ideas and dont want to cook from the books I already have I jump on either food networks website or cookng chanel to see what my favorite chefs have done in that category. Here is one I found by rachel ray.

Greek Salad

Total Time:

12 min

Prep

10 min

Cook

2 min

Yield:

4 servings

Level:

Easy

Ingredients

• 3 vine ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 European seedless cucumber, cut into bite-size chunks
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chunked
• 1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chunked
• 1 cubanelle pepper, seeded and chunked
• 1 cup Kalamata black olives
• Several sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley, about 1/2 cup
• 2 (1/4 pound) slices imported Greek feta
• 1/4 cup (a couple of glugs) extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons (3 splashes) red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed in palm of your hand
• Coarse salt and black pepper
• Pita breads

Directions

Combine vegetables, olives, and parsley in a large bowl. Rest sliced feta on the top of salad. Combine oil, vinegar, and oregano in a small plastic container with a lid. Shake vigorously to combine oil and vinegar and pour over salad and cheese. Season with salt and pepper and let the salad marinate until ready to serve. Serve salad with pita bread blistered and warmed on a hot griddle or grill pan.

[rkoloms]

Quoting chazzamatazz:

Try meat substitutes? I've found those to be more healthy and a lot easier to snag the non-veggie people.

Our family favorite is our taco / nacho / burrito meal night (Once a month - we call it 'fiesta night') where we have hard shells, soft shells, a massive amount of different kinds of veggie fillings, sour cream, cheese, beans and taco "meat" made with Morningstar Farms crumbles! 

Sadly those crumbles are not healthy. You can easily make your own with seitan; I love these (non-GMO):  http://uptonsnaturals.com/products/

[rkoloms]

Quoting Pamelachi:

We use mushrooms to substitute for red meat in a lot of dishes.  Is he against meat broth?  If not, a really easy "chow mein" is to take mushrooms - slice, a package of celery - dice and a box of either beef or chicken broth.  Season with soy sauce.  Simmer this until the celery is soft (maybe 1 hr?).  You can thicken it with cornstarch or cook out most of the water to give it the right consistency.  I serve it over quinoa for added protein, but you could also include toasted almonds on top instead of the chow mein noodles for crunch.  We used to make this with beef stew meat, but it is really good with the mushrooms as well.

vegetable broth works well

[rkoloms]

Quoting Lilac13:

Love the vegetarian meal ideas. I just recently decided to start a vegetarian diet.

Welcome to the bright side! Send me a message if you would like some of my family's favorite recipes (we are a veg family)